Riku
|-|KH1= |-|KH2= |-|KH3D= |-|Dark Mode= Summary Riku (リク?) is the deuteragonist of the Kingdom Hearts series and an original character created by Tetsuya Nomura. He is a teenager from Destiny Islands, and is the cool and confident best friend of Sora and Kairi. He is a Keyblade master that has the power of light Darkness, and is always ready to sacrifice himself to protect his friends. When the heartless raid their peaceful island and send each on a separate journey, Riku's curiosity compels him to take an unknown path, eventually falling into the Darkness by the influence of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. He then becomes an antagonist for much of the game. Riku is usually depicted as being stronger than Sora in Kingdom Hearts fanart, and is the second most popular character for cosplay, after Sora. Nomura has stated that Riku's name can be interpreted as "land"; the Japanese on'yomi pronunciation of land is riku (陸?). Riku's character represents one of the series' main themes alongside Sora which is" the light and the dark sides of hearts." During Kingdom Hearts, Riku is motivated by his wish to go to other worlds and gain strength. However, Riku goes with the darkness as his world is attacked by the Heartless. He is separated from his friends and ends up at Hollow Bastion where he is found by Maleficent and receives his weapon known as the Soul Eater (ソウルイーター?) from her. Under her influence, Riku turns on Sora and searches for a way to help Kairi. Riku becomes possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, until being sent to the realm of darkness where he meets King Mickey and helps him and Sora seal the door to the realm of darkness. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Riku appears as a playable character as he awakens in the basement levels of Castle Oblivion and begins climbing to the ground floor. Along the way, Riku faces Ansem seeking to control him once again as well as Zexion and a replica of himself. After learning of Sora's comatose state, Riku chooses to find a balance between his light and darkness, allowing him to defeat what remains of Ansem within him. Eventually learning the error of his ways and returning to his friends, Riku becomes good once again, and now uses his gifts to aid his friends wherever possible. Soon after in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Riku joins DIZ to ensure Sora is restored in peace by capturing Roxas in order to make Sora complete again. He fights against Roxas as the final boss. After Roxas defeats him, Riku uses the power of darkness to capture him at the cost of becoming a physical manifestation of Ansem. In Kingdom Hearts II, Riku is trapped in his Ansem form, but helps Sora in secret, eventually gaining his Way to the Dawn (ウェイトゥザドーン?) Keyblade. Riku returns to his original form when Ansem the Wise's machine used to digitally seal away Kingdom Hearts malfunctions and self-destructs. Joining Sora's party, they battle and defeat Xemnas, and return to Destiny Islands. As revealed in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Riku as a young boy was granted the power to wield a Keyblade by Terra. In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Riku serves as a playable character alongside Sora as the two are instructed to take the Mark of Mastery exam in order to become Keyblade Masters and prepare to fight Xehanort. The two of them undergo a series of trials through various dream worlds. After saving Sora from Xehanort's group, and releasing Sora's heart from Ventus' armor, Riku is declared a Keyblade Master. Nomura emphasizes how Riku is the main focus of this game as it shows the character's growth across the series. Riku is voiced by Mamoru Miyano in the Japanese version and by David Gallagher in the English version. The character's child version is voiced by Eiji Shima in the Japanese version and Ty Panitz in the English version. Powers and Stats Tier: 5-A Name: Riku Origin: Kingdom Hearts Gender: Male Age: 17 Classification: Human, Keyblade Wielder and Master Powers and Abilities: Superhuman strength, speed, durability, agility, Time Manipulation, Levitation, Energy Manipulation, Electromagnetic and Gravity Manipulation, can make afterimages, adept in Elemental magic, Flowmotion (allows Riku to blanket his body in a purple aura that increases his power, agility, and speed), teleportation, Spatial Manipulation, Poison Manipulation, Healing, Forcefield, is able to form Links with his Dream Eaters to increase his stats, and is an expert swordsman Attack Potency: Large Planet level (Comparable to Sora who fought toe to toe with Xemnas, Ansem, Roxas, Marluxia, and the Lingering Will) Speed: FTL+ (Is able to hold his own against Sora, Roxas, and Twilight Xemnas; easily faster than Monstro, who massively outpaced the Highwind in KH1) Lifting Strength: Class M+, likely higher (Riku is a powerhouse of the verse and could probably replicate any lifting feat of Sora's) Striking Strength: Class XMJ (traded blows with Twilight Xemnas, Roxas, and Sora) Durability: Large Planet level (has taken hits from Twilight Xemnas) Stamina: Superhuman, fought a nearly endless horde of Nobodies after being injured in his fight with Twilight Xemnas, can plow through Castle Oblivion without rest Range: Several thousand kilometers with magic, a couple meters with regular melee Standard Equipment: Way to Dawn (his Keyblade) Intelligence: He is a Keyblade Master, seems to be tactically intelligent for having orchestrated Sora and company's actions throughout the events without them even knowing, and is also highly skilled in combat Weaknesses: None notable Notable Attacks/Techniques: '-Keyblade (Way to Dawn):' Through channeling one’s strength of heart, the user can summon a Keyblade to use in battle. Riku’s Keyblade is The Way to Dawn, a weapon created through combining the powers of light and darkness. Through use of the Keyblade, the user is granted increased strength, speed, durability, and increased magical power, as well as access to special abilities, like turning your keyblade into a bike or whip. Thus far, Riku has not demonstrated such special abilities, though he has achieved Master status as of Dream Drop Distance. '-Dark Aura:' Riku charges up the darkness in his heart, and zips around at extreme speeds, impaling his opponent when he collides with them. After colliding with them several times, he finishes by generating a huge pillar of dark energy. '-Dark Splicer:' Riku stops time around every enemy in his range and rapidly warps around while attacking the opponent. When time begins to flow again, the affected enemies are dealt sequential damage in rapid succession. '-Dark Firaga:' Riku shoots an orb of dark fire that splits into multiple separate orbs and homes in on the opponent. '-Dark Break:' Riku leaps into the air and dive-bombs the enemy multiple times, generating shockwaves of darkness with each impact. '-Dark Mode:' Riku taps into the darkness in his heart, and physically manifests it as a suit that he wears. His strength, speed, magical power, and durability are all exponentially increased in this state. Other Notable Victories: Kakashi (Naruto) Sasuke (Naruto) Notable Losses: Inconclusive Matches: Category:Characters Category:Game Characters Category:Kingdom Hearts Category:Disney Category:Square Enix Category:Humans Category:Male Characters Category:Good Characters Category:Warriors Category:Protagonists Category:Keyblade Wielders Category:Teenagers Category:Time Users Category:Energy Users Category:Electromagnetic Users Category:Gravity Users Category:Teleportation Users Category:Poison Users Category:Healers Category:Forcefield Users Category:Adventurers Category:Anti-heroes Category:Spatial Manipulation Users Category:Magic Users Category:Element Users Category:Sword Users Category:Flight Users Category:Seven Guardians of Light Category:Tier 5